LI man: LIPA removes pole, transformer from car

Paul Stanley of West Babylon was all smiles Wednesday after Long Island Power Authority workers removed a LIPA pole and transformer that had crashed onto his 2010 Kia Soul on Sunday during Tropical Storm Irene.

LIPA officials and trucks showed up around 9 a.m. Wednesday, removed the pole from his car, put up a new pole and restored power to his block by 3 p.m., said Stanley, 54, whose picture and story appeared in Newsday Wednesday.

Before Wednesday's repairs, he said he had been unable to get answers from LIPA about when it would remove the pole, which also was blocking traffic on First Street where he lives.

"I'm sitting in air conditioning and I'm extremely happy," he said Wednesday. "Being a New Yorker, you learn to deal with things, but to me this was just dangerous. There is an old saying: The squeaky wheel gets the oil. Sometimes, you have to be the squeaky wheel."